lesbians on show

By Prince MacDonald

February 3, 2005: Human sexuality has been an issue that is not accepted in most parts of Africa, and Ghana is no exception. Some reasons for not accepting diverse sexual orientations is the idea that homosexuality is a foreign disease for the white "man", and cannot be found in Africa. Others believe that foreign tourists who visit Ghana import it. Homosexuals are perceived as ill or sick people who do not know what they are doing. Others believe that gay and lesbian people do not exist in Ghana.

I visited a few clubs in Accra and I had a discussion with some of the ladies during the conversation I realized they were lesbians, and they were not just women but they were very proud lesbians. I must say I was very shocked to see lesbians in Ghana who are proud of being who they are. I followed them around the clubs and enjoyed their company.

One friend introduced me to a few of his gay friends, a few days later he invited me to a party that was also in Accra. I took a very close look at his friends trying to understand what was going on at the party. He was pointing at everyone who was entering at the door and telling me more about them. He seemed to know all the gay guys who were entering the hall.

Not far from me they were lovely ladies who where sitting close to the high table dressed like drag kings. I asked my friend a few questions about them, but he seemed not to know anything about them. All he had to say said was, "they are lesbians".

I asked him if he knows of any lesbians in Ghana and he said that there are a lot of lesbians in the system but they are not ready to come out as lesbians.

His friends started arriving and we were asked to move to another table close to the lovely ladies. They were friends to the friends who arrived and I was surprised at the outspokenness. They were not just good speakers but also great dancers. Friends confirmed that they are lesbians, but they refused to be identified as lesbians. I told them of my work with lesbian and gay people living in Ghana on HIV/AIDS. They asked me of the approach I use in getting my issues across to my target group. I explained how my gay friend helps me in finding more people to talk to about STIs and HIV/AIDS.

I continued in a month's time to Cape Coast, the number one tourist destination in Ghana, which has castles, hotels, and a lovely forest reserve. We were on the beach one morning and just had a lovely swim with the ladies involved in our programme, which is to have fun and also education our selves on the issue of HIV/AIDS. I saw a few women swimming together while the men also swam on another site. I saw point to the fact that they were playing with each other in the water, but when I contacted them later in the day, they said "No we are not lesbians, we are just friends."
Perhaps this shows the rate at which same sex relationship has being stigmatized in the years, to the extent that people can rarely share their sexual preference with friends and colleagues workers within the gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) community.

With all of this in my mind I contacted another lady I know who works with a group of women in Accra. She explained the shyness of her people as due to stigma and discrimination based on gender. She believes most women in Ghana have low self-esteem because they are also in a gendered minority, so when it comes to sexual preference, it puts them underground. She believes this will change in the future when women are empowered to face their male counterparts.

I asked her why she chose to work with a special group of young women? She said "I do what I do because no one cares about women empowerment, because our male colleagues want to maintain their social status and are afraid to see their women and if I do not to talk about it, no one will do. I believe in the empowerment of women".

She believes things are not working well for them because men, who hate to see her doing what she is doing now, managing all the money for programmes such as hers.
She has hope in that there are no laws against lesbianism or organizing to discussion issues that affect the individuals. But she has fears that the state will use its powers to intimidate the people she is working with in future. She is also scared of talking about what she is doing, because she would not be in the best position to defend her case in court due to lack of funding for her project.

I believe that lesbians can do a lot together with their gay counterparts in Ghana and organizations working on human rights internationally and locally in the fight for rights, respect, responsibility, equality, diversity and justice.